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Matt Whiteside is the owner of All-Star Performance Baseball Camps and Clinics, and director, pitching instructor, and coach of the St. Louis Gamers. He previously played in the MLB for six years over the course of a seventeen year professional baseball career. Additional educational resources for players, coaches and parents are available at gamersacademy.net.

Preseason Pitching Workout: Week 6

This week’s pitching drill expands upon the logic of last week’s Balance Point exercise, and focuses on the Lift, Load, and Separate phase of a pitch; the moment when the pitcher lifts the front knee, loads the hip into the throwing position, and separates the hands before progressing through the pitching motion.

Have your pitcher begin with his feet staggered, left in front of right for a right-handed pitcher. As the knee comes up, we want him to form an acute angle, with the lift knee just inside the hip towards the center of his body, keeping his hips closed. If your pitcher’s knee were pointed towards home plate, he would be sacrificing power by opening up too early.

One Note: starting with the feet staggered is solely for the purpose of this drill. We do not advocate starting that way in the stretch. We filmed this drill at two different angles to help you better understand the mechanics, and we again incorporate the Power Drive to add a dynamic element to the routine. This is one of my favorite drills for tying it all together:

Works on the lift leg being at an angle just inside the hip

Works on Keeping the foot of the lift leg under the knee

Works on the Load of the Hip

Works on Leading with the Hip

Works on Taking the Heel of the Front Foot to the plate(staying closed)

Works on the Separation of the Hip from the front shoulder

Works on the Timing of the Hip load, and separation of the hands

Works on push of the Back Leg

Works on Stride Length

Works on Stride Direction

Works on the Front foot/Landing foot landing closed

Works on Finishing/Following through with the Backside

Helps Prevent Toppling, or Leading with the Front Shoulder and Head

Helps Prevent Collapsing at the waist early

Helps Prevent "flying open"

Helps Prevent carrying the Hands, or Drifting forward with them together